MES rally prevented in Belagavi during winter session of Karnataka legislature

District police stopped around 80 activists of the Shiv Sena UBT party leaders from Maharashtra entering Belagavi near Kuganoli check post on the Kolhapur highway.

Belagavi police prevented a protest rally in Belagavi on December 9, by taking around 20 leaders of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti into custody.

MES leaders gathered at the Sambhaji Circle at Bogarves in the old city to protest against the denial of permission by the district administration for their proposed Maha Melava protest rally. Police told them not to protest. But they did not heed to their request and began to shout slogans against the government of Karnataka, and to raise their demand for merger of all Marathi-speaking areas, including Belagavi, with Maharashtra.

The police took them away from the scene of protest.

MES leaders Manohar Kinekar, R. M. Patil, Prakash Shirolkar, Prakash Margale, and 20 other persons were taken into custody. “They would be released later after giving them a warning,” an officer said.

MES has been organising a Maha Melava rally on the first day of the winter session since the government of Karnataka began holding legislature sessions in Belagavi in 2006. Several times, Maharashtra ministers, MPs, MLAs or political leaders have addressed these rallies. MES leaders had claimed to have invited a few leaders from Maharashtra to speak at the Maha Melava this year. But the district administration denied permission.

Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Roshan issued prohibitory orders at border check posts and Police Commissioner Iada Martin Marbainang issued prohibitory orders in the city, apart from deputing personnel at important junctions and deploying vigilance drones at vantage points.

District police stopped around 80 activists of the Shiv Sena UBT party leaders from Maharashtra entering Belagavi near Kuganoli check post on the Kolhapur highway.